SEPTEMBER 2004 IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine 91

I N D U S T R Y / R E S E A R C H N E W S

The first instantiation of the RAS-IFRR School onRobotics Science took place 19–23 July 2004 in Volter-ra, Italy. The theme for the first workshop was “human-robot interaction” (HRI), an interdisciplinary topic ofsignificant current interest. The school was conceived asa high-quality international school to take place everysummer.

The school was organized as a full-week event at therecently renovated Dentro il Centro Studi. Given thetheme of HRI, the school provided comprehensive cov-erage from fundamentals to applications of this emergingarea. A tutorial on human-computer interaction was firstprovided by Erika Rogers (CALPOLY). As interface sci-ence starts to develop, the issue of usability and evalua-tion becomes critical to permit empirical analysis andcomparison of methods and implementations. To illus-trate this, a thorough introduction to these issues waspresented by Jean Scholtz (NIST). Another importantaspect of interaction with robots regards learning, inparticular, by imitation. This subject, including its bio-logical motivation, and example applications were pre-sented by Aude Billard (EPFL). At present, with theintroduction of service robots that coexist with humansin everyday environments, the topic of social interactionbecomes increasingly important, as described by CynthiaBreazeal (MIT). The introduction of many differenttypes of robots into work and domestic environmentscalls for us to address the issue of collaborative interfaceswhere the operator(s) collaborates with a number ofrobots to achieve a particular set of tasks. Alan Schultz(NRL) illustrated how cognitive modeling and utiliza-tion of multiple sensory modalities allows designing effi-cient ways to engage in dialogues with one of moremobile systems. Another type of robotic systems is thatof “entertainment” and humanoid robots, in particular,interaction with inexperienced users. This opens a num-ber of interesting issues in terms of embodiment, behav-ioral modeling, and long-term interaction as explainedby Hiroshi Ishiguro (Osaka). In addition to a rich set oflectures, the event also involved daily exercises thatranged from hands-on programming to video annota-tion, to questionnaire design/analysis. The exercisesserved an important role in the educational process, butalso had an essential social side effect in terms of estab-lishing a community among the students. Finally, twopanels, one composed of lecturers and another com-posed of six students, provided an opportunity for a dis-cus s ion of the numerous open cha l lenges andopportunities in HRI at the conclusion of the school.

An open call for student participation was issued inJanuary 2004. By the deadline, 52 applications had been

received. Based on an analysis of student motivation,research experience, and recommendations from theirsupervisors, a set of 34 students was admitted to theschool. The students were geographically diverse, withsix students from Asia, 12 from North America, and 16from Europe. It was highly encouraging to see that 14 ofthe admitted students were women. The students’ back-grounds covered traditional areas, such as mechanicalengineering, computer science, mechatronics, etc, butalso topics such as psychology, cognitive science etc., sothe school provided an excellent mix of disciplines,nationalities, and gender. The students were extremelyactive and highly motivated. Based on this year’s event,the students hope to organize a follow-up HRI eventthemselves next summer.

To keep registration costs at a reasonable level, wewere fortunate to receive financial sponsorships fromSAIC and EURON. Unfortunately no sponsor from Asiawas available, which likely limited the participation fromthat region. The support from SAIC and EURONallowed the design of a summer school with some of thebest lecturers in the field and a number of support activi-ties such as a half-day tour to nearby Siena and a socialdinner. We are, thus, most grateful for the financial sup-port from these organizations. In addition to the directfinancial support, significant support in terms of arrange-ments, logistics, etc., was provided by the local organiz-ers at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna under the leadership ofPaolo Dario and Cecilia Laschi. We have been deeplyindebted to them for their dedication and support fromthe very start. Without their help the event would nothave been possible.

While it is planned that the School of Robotic Sciencewill take place again next summer on a different topicalarea, the exact subject and organizers have not yet beensettled, but we hope they will have as much fun as wehad organizing this event. For additional information visithttp://www.cas.kth.se/ras-ifrr-ss04/.

Ronald C. Arkin and Henrik I. Christensen, organizers

Summer School on Human-Robot Interaction